Bright Era of China Entertainment

Chapter 760 Concept and Creativity

After Chu Xuan's opening statement, everyone roughly understood the origin and theme of the story. Combined with the elements promoted by the posters on site, they also preliminarily realized that "My Love from the Star" is a story style that is a mixture of joy and sorrow, happiness and sadness, and the core idea of ​​the story focuses on true feelings, and Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei analyze their inner feelings to bring about their own view of love.

With this, the framework elements of the new drama "My Love from the Star" can be seen in full.

Then, under the host's guidance of Huang Bo, the interview with Chu Xuan began.

"Director Chu, what is your understanding of idol dramas?"

Huang Bo just called a reporter, and the reporter stood up and brought up a big topic.

If Chu Xuan was just an actor, reporters would not ask such questions to the actor.

But since Chu Xuan met as a director, the questions asked by the reporter were naturally deeper and broader.

It was also the first time that Chu Xuan faced such a profound question. He felt the difference brought about by the change of identity from actor to director, and also realized the different perspectives of the media towards actors and directors.

He held the microphone in his right hand, folded his arm with his left hand, thought for a moment, and then picked up the microphone to speak.

“Before answering this question, we must first understand and interpret what an idol is.”

"What is an idol? Is it a popular star? Is it a handsome actor? Or a beautiful actress? Everyone has their own understanding."

"For me, to be someone's idol, I must have a good side, and then spread that good side to others, to inspire others, to show them beauty, to satisfy the audience's spiritual needs for you and for myself, so that I can be more positive and motivated in life."

"So my answer is that the main purpose of idol dramas is to spread beautiful and positive TV dramas."

The idol dramas on the market are all similar. The main theme elements are nothing more than love-related stories. This is true for both Korean and Taiwanese dramas. The story routines are almost all based on the same template.

As for domestic idol dramas, there is a unique Zhao Baogang who combines idol dramas with inspiration and life to create genre dramas with his own style, thus earning Zhao Baogang the reputation of "Romance Master".

As soon as Zhao Baogang's idol drama is released, you can find from the first episode that it is different from the generally known idol dramas. This is because his understanding and thoughts on idol dramas are independent of the market.

Now listening to Chu Xuan's understanding of idol dramas, there seems to be the shadow of Zhao Baogang in it. I don't know if it was influenced by "Struggle". The positive and progressive thinking it expounds is exactly Zhao Baogang's concept.

"Director Chu, since the purpose is to spread beauty and positivity, why are there dark elements that reflect reality? If I understand correctly, some of the posters used for the on-site promotions contain some cruel realities?"

Huang Bo called on another reporter, who raised questions following up on the previous question.

"Idol dramas have two major elements: idols and romance. No idol drama can escape these two themes."

Hearing Chu Xuan say this, the reporter and the people present nodded.

There is nothing wrong with this statement. Idols and romance are the two core elements that constitute idol dramas.

"I just expressed my personal understanding of the significance of idols. To fully interpret the connotation of idol dramas, we must also understand the meaning of romance."

"What is romance? If you break it down into two parts, '言' and '情', '言' can be understood as expression, and '情' represents emotion, so romance is about expressing emotion."

"What is emotion then? Is it only love?"

Chu Xuan smiled at the reporter, and the reporter waited for Chu Xuan to continue with an interested look.

"When you encounter setbacks in life and feel very depressed, is it considered an emotion to express your depression?"

"You've encountered setbacks in your career and have lost the courage to move forward. Is it considered an emotion to express this discouragement?"

"It's just based on our general understanding of romance that we think romance is equivalent to love, thus ignoring the various emotional values ​​hidden in the big framework of romance."

"Now I dig them out one by one, turning them into nodes to fill in the big line of romance, which is love, making romance more full and substantial. This is my understanding of the meaning of romance."

"Combining this rich romance with an idol that inspires positivity is my understanding of idol dramas, and it is also the core of My Love from the Star."

The reporter smiled and nodded, and everyone in the audience gave Chu Xuan a round of applause.

What is an idol? Someone who inspires people to be positive.

What is romance? Romance is when all the emotions that can be found in life are combined with the line of love, not just such an empty definition of love.

The combination of these two makes an idol drama.

No one has ever given such a detailed explanation of idol dramas. Usually, experts or directors would only give a general framework when talking about this issue. However, I didn’t expect to get a clear answer to “What is an idol drama” from Chu Xuan today.

Is this the standard answer for idol dramas? This is debatable, as there is no absolute correctness in art.

But regardless of whether Chu Xuan's views are right or wrong, as for the ideas expressed in this speech about idol dramas, if "My Love from the Star" is not successful, then it's just for fun. But if "My Love from the Star" is successful, then Chu Xuan's ideas may lead the trend, thereby changing the market direction of idol drama content creation to a certain extent. This can only be done by a well-known director with ideas and personal style.

However, Chu Xuan is a new director, he seems to be only 25 years old?

He made his debut as a director with a new work, and expressed ideas with such clear personal views and insights that are worthy of being called art, which made the audience feel both interested and appreciative.

This does confirm the saying that a good actor can become a good director, but at present Chu Xuan has only demonstrated his unique personal thoughts and style, so we will have to wait for subsequent broadcasts to see how good his directorial level is.

"Director Chu, based on what you just said, I find your insights novel and agree with them. As a new director, are you confident that you can perfectly express your ideas through the lens? Have you done any homework or preparation in advance?"

Facing the reporter's question, Chu Xuan looked at Ning Hao, Tang Jili and others in the audience.

"I am fortunate to have the support of all the teachers. I have learned a lot from them during the past few months of working on the script. This has given me, a new director, great confidence and made me confident that I can present my first work in my life to the audience perfectly. Let's wait and see how it goes."

Ning Hao, Tang Jili and others laughed, clapped and joined the audience in seeing Chu Xuan off the stage.

Chu Xuan came on stage as the director. He introduced what needed to be introduced and expressed the ideas that needed to be expressed. The time for the press conference and the time to catch the flight to Shenzhen had been set, so he did not say any more to delay the exposure of the people behind him. After exchanging glances with Huang Bo, he walked down the stage and returned to his seat.

"Please welcome our producer Liu."

At Huang Bo's signal, Liu Yifei walked up to the stage amid applause.

"Hello everyone, I am Liu Yifei, the female lead of "My Love from the Star" An Xin, and also the producer of "My Love from the Star"."

Looking at Liu Yifei on the stage, some people present seemed to feel that Liu Yifei had changed a lot.

But she still looks the same, and her face is still the same. I can't tell exactly what has changed, but I just feel that she is more charming than before.

Perhaps, this is the change brought about before and after marriage, but these people just don’t know that Liu Yifei and Chu Xuan are already married.

"Four years ago, as the producer of Zhu Xian, I experienced the learning process of making a TV series for the first time."

"Four years later, I am here to share with you a story inspired by my own ideas. Thank you for your support."

Liu Yifei paused for a moment, and when the applause stopped, she picked up the microphone and continued speaking.

"Director Chu just talked about the origin, story ideas and story concepts of "My Love from the Star". I think everyone should have a preliminary understanding of "My Love from the Star"."

"What kind of story does "My Love from the Star" tell, and what kind of background does the hero and heroine have? Let me tell you about it. Does any media friend have any questions?"

Huang Bo was stunned. Getting to the point so quickly? Not playing by the rules.

Before he could react, he saw the media in the audience raising their hands excitedly.

Liu Yifei tilted her head to look at him, glanced at the audience, and signaled Huang Bo to choose someone.

Huang Bo came back from his daze and quickly pointed to a reporter in the audience: "This friend."

Chu Xuan, who was sitting in the audience, didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Which one of you two is the host?
But it's quite funny when you think about it. Logically speaking, my wife is the producer, so she should explain the content first before entering the interview session.

But Liu Yifei is like this. Many times she doesn't plan what to do in advance. She doesn't know what to say on the stage and then goes directly to the next stage. Even though there have been some changes after marriage, her style of doing things in this regard is still as casual as before.

He often thought that if he cast Liu Yifei into a variety show one day, Liu Yifei would definitely not follow the script and would definitely be the type of person that would give the director team a headache and nothing they could do about it.

"Producer Liu, if I understand correctly, the story setting promoted in the poster involves traveling across time and space?"

"Yes, the hero and heroine are not in the same world."

“Why is there such a setting?”

The text on the poster clearly mentioned the words "across time and space", and people present speculated that the drama might have science fiction elements.

In the brilliant era, "Hope" came first and "Enemy at the Gates" came later. It is understandable that such innovative ideas can exist in the same corporate culture.

However, adding science fiction elements to urban idol dramas makes many people unable to imagine the specific style, and are also curious about the significance of the existence of science fiction elements.

“One is innovation, and the other is making the emotions more real.”

“How do you explain that emotions are more real?”

The people present were confused. Science fiction itself represents distortion, and it becomes even more real when it comes to you. This is hard to understand.

"Director Chu talked about the origin of the story. The story of My Love from the Star is based on the assumption that we don't exist with each other, so the sci-fi element that transcends time and space was added."

Everyone pondered over what he said, and thought about the origin of the story that Chu Xuan had said before, "If I didn't exist, what would your life be like?" However, they didn't expect that the way of "not existing" would be so thorough, directly creating two completely different worlds.

But if we interpret it from a different perspective, the story of "My Love from the Star" is based on the insights gained from Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei's own experiences, and is endowed with real emotions. Then, to a certain extent, the audience's perception of "My Love from the Star" will be to imagine the plot of "My Love from the Star" as reality.

But in reality, Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei are in love and their relationship is going smoothly. The difference between the plot and reality will cause emotional distortion and make the audience not believe that the emotions in the plot are real.

Now add a science fiction element and make the two people completely non-existent to each other. Only then can the emotions in this hypothetical story be truly established and truly resonate with the audience.

The core setting of "I don't exist" must be highlighted first, and then a "true story" full of real emotions can be assumed.

Thinking in this way, everyone understood the significance of this set point.

"The hero and heroine are in two different worlds, so how do they meet, or how do they travel through time?"

"The male protagonist is in a high-tech world and will enter the female protagonist's world through a virtual game."

Virtual game? ... Many people present were stunned, because this term was quite new.

From the surface meaning, it is not difficult to understand that virtual games are nothing more than future technological fantasy products that can make people feel as if they are in a second world.

However, there seems to have never been such imagination in China at present. This setting only exists in some foreign science fiction books, and such elements do not seem to have appeared in domestic or foreign film and television. It is an extremely novel idea.

"In that case, is the world the heroine in is a game world? Is everything fake?"

A reporter raised a question, and everyone present showed great interest.

The male protagonist traveled through a virtual game, so the world the female protagonist is in is a game world? Aren’t games just fake data?

If this is the case, then such an idol drama is truly unheard of.

"No, the world the heroine lives in is real, but the hero thinks it is fake."

Everyone in the audience was stunned, because the elements were too novel and no one understood it for a while.

"The protagonist is an orphan from an ordinary family. He is also seriously ill and wants to spend the rest of his life happily in the virtual world."

"If this were the real world, how could a man like this have the courage to pursue love when faced with a celebrity heroine?"

"But the male protagonist thinks that the female protagonist's world is a game world. When he meets a female protagonist he likes, he has no burden or scruples to approach her."

“This is also the underlying logic of the characters in My Love from the Star.”

The people present looked at each other in bewilderment, and after they understood it, they became interested again.

Why did the male protagonist play the game and enter the real world? What is the logic behind this? None of this matters.

Only knowing the different situation between the male and female protagonists aroused their strong interest.

Isn't this just the player and the NPC falling in love?
NPCs have their own set of real-world behavior logic, while players' words and actions in the game world are full of unknowns.

But what happens if the hero knows that the world he lives in is the real world? How does the relationship between the hero and heroine develop?
After Liu Yifei's explanation, all of this was unexpected to them, but also very interesting.

"'My Love from the Star' is definitely a unique idol drama, it's so new." Everyone had this thought.

And there is another very interesting point, which is the underlying logic of the characters mentioned by Liu Yifei.

The domineering president falls in love with Cinderella, and the beautiful and rich girl pursues the poor boy. These are the contrast elements that commonly appear in idol dramas.

It looks exciting, but the logic of the character relationships does not stand up to scrutiny.

The male protagonist of "My Love from the Star" is an ordinary person, and the female protagonist is a female celebrity who is fair, rich and beautiful. This is the same pattern as many idol dramas on the market, but "My Love from the Star" adds an interesting logical setting, making the relationship between the characters that cannot stand scrutiny become valid. This creativity is unique and it is really amazing.

"Producer Liu, I roughly understand the storyline of "My Love from the Star". It's very interesting to think about it, and it makes me look forward to the broadcast of "My Love from the Star". But the male protagonist is a seriously ill person and is from a different world from the female protagonist. So how do the male and female protagonists get together in the end?" the reporter asked.

"Hmm?" Liu Yifei blinked. She didn't expect the reporter to follow her explanation and go straight to the ending. This was beyond her expectations.

But when the reporter saw Liu Yifei's expression, he immediately misunderstood what she meant: "No way, the male and female protagonists are not together? Is "My Love from the Star" a tragedy? Director Chu just said that the concept of idol dramas is to spread beauty."

It seems that this reporter is not only an entertainment reporter, but also a fan of Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei, and he really hopes that the hero and heroine can be together in the end.

Liu Yifei pursed her lips and exchanged glances with Chu Xuan in the audience. Both of them had faint smiles in their eyes. They really didn't expect that the reporter would think and say this.

Liu Yifei flashed a mischievous look and said, "To spread beauty, it is not necessary to have the hero and heroine be together. There are more ways to express the connotation of the word beauty. Okay, the rest of the time will be handed over to other friends in the crew."

Without waiting for the reporter to ask further questions with a look of surprise on her face, Liu Yifei waved her hand and turned to walk down the stage, feeling very amused.

Chu Xuan looked at Liu Yifei who was walking over. As a fragrant breeze blew over, Liu Yifei sat down next to him. He suppressed his sarcasm and whispered, "You are deceiving the audience."

Liu Yifei stroked her hair and muttered playfully, "There are many ways to spread beauty. Whether the male and female protagonists are together or not is just one way to express beauty. Besides, I didn't say that the male and female protagonists must not be together. As for how the media and the audience understand it, it's up to each person to see it."

Chu Xuan was speechless when he saw Liu Yifei's fiery words. Seeing that Liu Yifei's eyes were full of playfulness, he couldn't help but say a long-lost adjective to his wife: "Witch."

Liu Yifei smiled, put down her hand that was stroking her hair, and slapped Chu Xuan with her backhand.

With a click, a media photographer captured the scene that seemed like a flirtation.

(End of this chapter)